POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS: What EXACTLY Am I Trying To Say With My Writing…Is It A GOOD Thing, Or A Selfish Thing?

On October 7, 2007, I started this blog. Eighteen years later, I am revising and doing some different things. My wife and I are now retired senior citizens, our kids are both married, we have a bonus daughter and her wife and we have three grandchildren, (with a fourth on-the-way!) the oldest of which will soon finish his first year in high school, one smack in the center of Middle School; the third almost done with kindergarten. I have forty-five professional publications, plus countless other publications as a slushpile reader, and sometime essay contributor to

Stupefying Stories https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/. 

These days, I write whenever I want to – or when I’m not busy exploring the world with my wife or kids or grandkids. I write and read constantly. Then I discovered that I was writing longer and longer pieces. My new focus is to write shorter; and to write HUMOR. On purpose. Maybe I can still irritate people while being funny. It works pretty well for John Scalzi! We’ll see what happens.
I’m hard at work writing a short story for my favorite magazine on Earth, ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION AND FACT – it’s a story pulled out of my novel MARTIAN HOLIDAY and hopefully it will be for ANALOG.

But is that a “good thing”? Is it self-centered? Lately, I’ve been wondering what is it I’ve been trying to say all theses years…I’m gonna ignore my essays, because they have a very particular goal in mind every time I write one. They say essays come in various categories, (persuasive, informative, argumentative, critical, personal, comparative, how to)and I’m pretty sure I can yank each one from the several hundred I’ve written over the years. I recently had a query from someone whose job is “Author Brand Architect & Publishing Strategist”. I have some idea what that is now, but after talking to my wife and my daughter (who is a successful writer (as well as a mental health therapist, focusing on adolescents) – we decided that it sounded a bit too far into the “too good to be true” camp. Enthusiastic and polite, but…well, I’ve decided not to pursue that.

At any rate, I’ve been wondering what exactly it IS I’m trying to say to the world – in particular in my fiction. I think I’ve hesitated for some time because I’m AFRAID of what I’ve been trying to say all these years. So…finally, I think I’ll take a few of the stories I know BEST and tell you what I’m trying to say in them…

Certainly Orson Scott Card is “…speaking to this (maybe in more than one story): “This is how humans are: We question all our beliefs, except for the ones that we really believe in, and those we never think to question.” ― Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead

Marion Zimmer Bradley’s…”writing primarily focuses on feminist retellings of mythology and history. She often subverted patriarchal narratives by shifting the focus to female perspectives, exploring the clash between pagan matriarchal traditions and emerging Christianity, and examining themes of personal freedom and morality.”

Lois McMaster Bujold's writing “…explores themes of overcoming adversity, the power of empathy, and the triumph of intellect over physical might. She often highlights characters with disabilities or those marginalized by society…”

Steven Brust “…explores the tension between personal ambition and the consequences of one's choices. Through his signature "Cool Stuff Theory of Literature" (writing stories about what he finds coolest), he masks sharp, egalitarian socio-political critiques.”

Bruce Bethke “… confronts Cynicism Toward Authority and Revolution: His broader writings look at the absurdities of power, often highlighting the cycles where revolutionary movements ultimately get replaced by equally oppressive authoritarian rule.”

C.S. Lewis “…wrote his Space Trilogy (also known as the Ransom Trilogy) to combat the rising tide of secular humanism, scientific materialism, and technocracy. He argued that humanity's dream of conquering and colonizing the universe without God was a dangerous and spiritually empty ideology.”

CJ Cherryh’s “…science fiction…explores the realities of human survival, political pragmatism, and the profound difficulty of understanding genuinely alien minds. Rather than focusing on miraculous technologies, she examines how individuals, cultures, and species navigate social inertia, maintain institutions, and adapt to survive…”

So, how about me? I DID run across this in an essay I wrote in February of 2022: “I guess I adhere to the MASH ‘school of writing’: deal with a serious issue; and (in the best episodes), reveal a humorous side to the deadly side. I’ll need to remember that in the story I’m writing right now.”

That’s given me an idea – maybe I need to go back to what I’ve written in the past. There must be SOME hints of what I’m doing with my writing in among the past 19 years of nattering on about myself and what interests me! Besides, while I KNOW the number doesn’t reflect the “number of fans” I have, it DOES reflect (actually COUNTS) the number of times people have visited my website:

That seems to be a few…

or a bit more on “what I’m trying to say”, follow the link to an essay by me published by SFWA in July of 2012 (I know, fourteen years ago! But I find my thoughts are still pretty much the same…) here: https://sfwa.org/2012/07/11/guest-post-when-did-science-fiction-and-apocalypse-become-interchangeable/

I also answered some questions on goodreads when EMERALD OF EARTH came out a few years ago. You can read it here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/1229225.Guy_Stewart/questions

But the question still remains for ME to answer, “What am I trying to say?” I think it may be a good idea to READ WHAT I'VE WRITTEN! It also wouldn't hurt if anyone reading this would respond and tell me what YOU think I'm trying to say!

Inspiration: My Own Work and other writers I admire.
Image: https://austinkleon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/85167617_1212494135614198_5965732498133583053_n.jpg

I Needed THIS To Be EASILY Available...it wasn't until now!

 

SLICE OF PIE: Our Unlikely Love for ENOLA HOLMES and the Genre of the MYSTERY...and others...

On October 7, 2007, I started this blog. Eighteen years later, I am revising and doing some different things. My wife and I are now retired senior citizens, our kids are both married, we have a bonus daughter and her wife and we have three grandchildren, (with a fourth on-the-way!) the oldest of which will soon finish his first year in high school, one smack in the center of Middle School; the third almost done with kindergarten. I have forty-five professional publications, plus countless other publications as a slushpile reader, and sometime essay contributor to Stupefying Stories https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/.
These days, I write whenever I want to – or when I’m not busy exploring the world with my wife or kids or grandkids. I write and read constantly. Then I discovered that I was writing longer and longer pieces. My new focus is to write shorter; and to write HUMOR. On purpose. Maybe I can still irritate people while being funny. It works pretty well for John Scalzi! We’ll see what happens.

Seeing the advertising for the first ENOLA HOLMES (2020 movie Netflix) brought out a feeling of, “Of all the IDIOTIC STUFF on NORMALLY idiotic television (my father called the television the “idiot box” (this was when the thing actually WAS a box holding a cathode ray tube…). My wife had the same reaction.

A couple nights ago, we were searching for something new along the lines of “The Thursday Murder Club” movie – nothing too difficult to watch, nothing to strain the brain, but clever, snarky, and with a touch of humor.

The search turned up the usual suspects, almost all of which we’ve seen. Now, I KNOW I am well-known as a SF fan and writer and that it perfectly just! However, several years ago, I developed a taste for the detective Walt Longmire (Did I ever mention that I also LOATHE Westerns? I do.), and in a strange turn of events, Brent Spiner (STAR TREK’s Mr. Data) played Sherlock Holmes in the movie, FIRST CONTACT…which was actually a Star Trek full-length movie!

One of the movies ranked with That included ENOLA HOLMES. With a heavy sigh, we decided to give it a try, but had a few other movies in the queue which we could reasonably spend a few hours mindlessly watching.

The “blurb” for the BOOKS was…questionable…at best (though the first and a later one were both awarded Edgars (YA lit’s equivalent of SF’s HUGO, and movie’s Academy Award): “The Enola Holmes Mysteries…[star] Enola Holmes…14-year-old sister of…Sherlock Holmes, twenty years her senior. The…series borrows characters and settings from the established canon of Sherlock Holmes, but the Enola character is Springer's creation and specific to this series.” The 14-year-old Enola is the same age as our granddaughter…who is also into mystery, murder, and mayhem…she ALSO has a wicked sense of humor. Figure Holmes himself is usually represented with something of a sharp (or wicked) wit, we hoped that Enola might have some of that.

With further study, we found that the two were NOT quite the same: “A 2020 mystery film starring Millie Bobby Brown as the title character, the teenage sister of the already famous Victorian-era detective Sherlock Holmes. The film is directed by Harry Bradbeer from a screenplay by Jack Thorne that adapts the first novel in The Enola Holmes Mysteries series by Nancy Springer. In the film, Enola travels to London to find her missing mother but ends up on a thrilling adventure, pairing up with a runaway lord as they attempt to solve a mystery that threatens the entire country. In addition to Brown, the film also stars Sam Claflin, Henry Cavill, and Helena Bonham Carter (who, BTW was ALSO Bellatrix Lestrange, evil witch in four Harry Potter movies).

To arms, then: it turns out that you can’t see a movie by it’s title or blurb…Enola Holmes was truly fantastic! As such, it compelled us to NOT immediately blitz through the other two without a care in the world! We waited a few days before watching EH 2 last night; and we MIGHT last through the night tonight without watching EH 3! (Maybe…) The question was WHY was was it SO FREAKILY GOOD?

First of course, was that “Sherlock Holmes”! Really, how much more compulsion do you need? The character “…holds the Guinness World Record for the most-portrayed literary human character in film and television. Estimates indicate that over 75 to 130 actors have played the detective on screen, with comprehensive lists (including stage and audio productions) featuring nearly 350 actors…” https://www.imdb.com/list/ls098162253/

Secondly, I just realized that both SF and Mystery are what are called “genre literature” which is, by definition…”any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time…” The genres most of us are familiar with besides SF and Mystery are (off the top of my head) spy, fantasy, horror, Western – though it appears not even the EXPERTS know how many genres there are. Seems to be some number between three https://www.thoughtco.com/genre-in-literature-1690896; to seven; to 28; to 35; to 113…to (I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to count them) several HUNDRED (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_writing_genres)...

Sherlock Holmes is possibly even his OWN genre! I write “hard science fiction” – which is what MARTIAN HOLIDAY is…but it has a religious flavor to it as well (Christian, witchcraft (there’s a coven), and Buddhism (the Dalai Llama of Mars puts in an appearance), as well as the United Faith in Humanity.

All of this to say that my wife and I watched Enola Holmes 2 (2022): “In September 2020, co-producer and star Millie Bobby Brown (16 in the movie rather than the books’ 14)…an original story based on the real 1888 matchgirls' strike and the life of labor activist Sarah Chapman…to advance her career as a detective (or a “finder of things” [she] has to work with others and not just be reliant on herself. It's a story that goes from 'I' to 'we', and that is a story of sisterhood.” We will soon be watching Enola Holmes 3…

I think I’d like to try my hand at a Sherlock Holmes on Mars story…or even better, invent my OWN sleuth…maybe a retired science teacher who’s looking for something to do in his retirement.

Hmmm…

Inspiration and references: ENOLA HOLMES 1, 2, 3; Bellatrix Lestrange (four HARRY POTTER movies; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millie_Bobby_Brown; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre

MINING THE ASTEROIDS Part 39: Wanna Be An Asteroid Miner When You Grow Up?

Initially, I started this series because of the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention, DisCON which I WOULD have been attending in person if I felt safe enough to do so in person AND it hadn’t been changed to the week before the Christmas Holidays…HOWEVER, as time passed, I knew that this was a subject I was going to explore because it interests me…
Today’s Source: https://www.planetary.org/articles/chinas-tianwen-2-mission-has-probably-arrived-at-a-quasi-moon-of-earth (June 24, 2026)

Oddly enough, under the influence of my son (there’s a LONG and fascinating story there about the ASTRONOMICAL advance of his reading skills and interest since first grade…) I found out that HE read THREE BODY PROBLEM by Liu Cixin (as I am interested in words and language, his name is pronounced “lee-oh ts'-uh-sheen” – Or as it reads on the cover of the book (incorrectly, apparently) Cixin Liu). So, I’m reading it now.

At any rate, the race to mine space (not with exploding mines, but taking ores from asteroids and refining it on Earth (or…in space, but I think that’s a DIFFERENT story!) appears to have started:

“Asa Stahl, PhD; Science Editor at The Planetary Society wrote on May 21, 2024: “Earth hosts seven known quasi-moons, an unknown number of minimoons, and maybe, sometimes, two ghost moons. Though none of these pseudo-moons are as big or influential as Earth’s one true natural satellite — the Moon — they are still valuable for science and exploration. Quasi- and minimoons offer promising targets for future space missions, a window into our planet’s neighborhood, and a sampling of the sort of asteroids that could potentially hit Earth.”

He wrote in an article posted June 24, 2026 that, “China’s Tianwen-2 mission has (probably) arrived at a quasi-moon of Earth.” Andrew Jones, also an editor at TPS, notes, “… around July 4, we [should] get the confirmation that, ‘Yes, Tianwen-2 is in its desired orbit, here's an image.’” EDITORIAL SNARK: It is ALMOST certainly sheer coincidence that China will land on a moon (quasi or otherwise) around the 250th Anniversary of the US and “roughly” 57 years after Neil Armstrong, et al landed on the Moon in 1969…

Back to mining! https://fortune.com/2026/07/02/china-private-space-industry-landspace-geely-spacex-rainer-zitelmann/ Fortune magazine reported that “Initially, Chinese policymakers did not take Elon Musk’s company particularly seriously. But as Falcon 9 dramatically lowered launch costs through reusability and SpaceX began dominating global launch markets, attitudes changed. Chinese leaders recognized that they could not rely solely “the government to mine/colonize/pioneer space”. As a result, hundreds of commercial space companies emerged. Many were founded by engineers who previously worked for state-owned aerospace organizations but became frustrated with bureaucracy and slow decision-making. By 2022, China had approximately 430 private space companies. By 2024, the combined value of the country’s 100 largest space firms was estimated at roughly $100 billion.”

CHINA is getting excited about space and mining the asteroids, while WE diddle around, assuming that American dominance in space was a given and we now have more important things to do – like play video games, own more powerful cell phones, and buy more stuff…led by a self-centered billionaire whose sole vision involves remodeling swimming pools and rebuilding extravagant ballrooms…Americans will shortly find themselves farther behind the “unAmerican” powers that we did when Germany invaded Poland and Japan surreptitiously took over the US AFTER the WWII…with manufacturing and technology.

“The United States still enjoys a significant advantage [over China]. Measured against SpaceX alone, the gap remains substantial. But that comparison can be misleading. China has built remarkable depth across the entire industry. In launch services, satellites, communications technologies, and space manufacturing, dozens of Chinese companies are now competing simultaneously.

“The history of Chinese industry reveals a familiar pattern: first imitation, then improvement — and finally innovation. This evolution has already occurred in sectors such as automobiles, batteries, telecommunications, and consumer electronics. There is little reason to assume that space will be different.”

If anyone reading this is planning on being an asteroid miner, I would suggest you make like the Iron Rangers in central Minnesota did at one point in the 1940s, “…due to the diverse immigrant workforce, many spoken interactions in the mines and surrounding communities occurred in Finnish, Slovenian, Croatian, and Italian…” (https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/immigration-iron-range-1880-1930)...

START LEARNING CHINESE!

“What’s a quasi-moon?” Funny you should ask… https://www.planetary.org/articles/the-quasi-moons-of-earth
Planetary Society article: https://www.planetary.org/articles/the-quasi-moons-of-earth
Foundational Resource: (A general Wikipedia post detailing what the authors currently know about asteroid mining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining)
Noted Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth, https://www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_7fcd3ea5-3c14-533f-a8d5-9bf629922f34.html, https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/04/29/like-asteroid-mining-be-careful-what-you-wish-for/, https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/learn/historyculture/theroadtothefirstflight.htm, https://hackaday.com/2019/03/27/extraterrestrial-excavation-digging-holes-on-other-worlds/, https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/every-small-worlds-mission
Interesting Stuff The Might Apply To Mining Asteroids: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgej7gzg8l0o

Image: https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000087284388-7gj0v4-t500x500.jpg